A young
beauty blogger has posted a shocking photo diary of what happened when she suffered a
severe reaction to a salon facial.

Singaporean make-up fanatic Juli, who blogs under the name Bun Bun
at bunbunmakeuptips.com, shared her experience online in a series of blog posts,
documenting how the skin on her face became enraged by the treatment and then by
medication she was given by a dermatologist in effort to calm it
down.

Writing
four days after her 'skin-ravaging facial', Juli warned readers with a caution: 'This
post contains graphic images of a face inflamed with red, angry pimples filled with
pus.'

Juli, who writes under the name Bun Bun,
before her facial

She
continued: 'You might feel itchy and want to vomit after seeing these images. I totally
understand if you run away from me if you saw me. Reader discretion
advised.'

She then
posted a photograph of what she usually looks like, followed by a day-by-day
photographic account of how her skin reacted to the facial, first breaking out in a
small number of spots, which rapidly grew in number and filled with
pus.

She
visited a clinic to have the pus extracted, which only served tomake the condition
worse. The spots were soon covering her entire face and neck, and were both painful and
itchy.

Juli before the facial that
ravaged her skin, left, and five days after, right

Juli immediately after the
facial

Spots began coming through the
day after her facial

More and more spots began working their
way through her skin two days later

Writing on
the site, Juli commented: 'I'dsent images of my deteriorating
skin condition to the people at the facial salon and they asked me to go down and
have the pus extracted again, this time to their HQ, where their Director was
around.

'I'dsent images of my
deteriorating skin condition to the people at the facial salon and they asked me to go
down and have the pus extracted again'

'I don't
know how people who have been in the industry for THIRTY YEARS couldn't tell this was
not your normal acne breakout or post-facial sensitivity.'

She
continued: 'The facial people told me that "It has to get worse before it gets better".
BULL***T. Anyone who tells you that about your skin is really just lying to you. I have
friends who are aestheticians say there's no such thing. If it gets worse, it can only
get worse.

'From the
first round of extraction, they kept lying to me that "tomorrow your skin will be
better". It never did. At home, my skin turned worse.'

Despite
their advice, Juli chose not to reveal the name of the salon, believing they did not
intend to cause the reaction.

The clusters of spots around
Juli's chin continued to grow and grow

The skin on her forehead began to
break out in a pus-filled rash as well

Juli at the clinic where they
tried to treat the condition with an anti-bacterial gel that only made the complaint
worse

Juli following the pus extraction on
day four

Juli
visited a number of doctors, and the second one gave her pills and told her the skin
allergy should not cause any scarring, but would leave her with
hyper-pigmentation for at least a few months.

She said:
'He also advised that I go back to my skincare regime before the facial because the new
products given by the salon might be contributing to the allergy.'

Juli said the whole experience
left her traumatised and depressed

Juli five days after the
facial

Five days after the facial Juli's
skin was only getting worse

After the
photographs Juli wrote: 'I'm sorry if I scared you. I have goosebumps too. You can't
imagine how difficult it was to look at these photos and not cry. I cry the most when
I’m washing my face.

'I was at
my lowest on Day 5. A small percentage of the pustules were starting to dry out, but
more were forming, and they were MERGING'

'My
self-confidence has plummeted to rock bottom. I cannot remember the last time I was so
depressed over an external condition.

'I guess I
could thank the heavens that I’m lucky to be alive, but can my life ever go back to
normal? I don't know. It's a great fall to take for a person who is image-conscious and
with an online personality.'

In a
second blog post a few days later, she wrote: 'I was at my lowest on Day 5. A small
percentage of the pustules were starting to dry out, but more were forming, and they
were MERGING. They were spreading to my neck too, and were incredibly
itchy.'

Juli added
that she has not only lost out financially as a result of her reaction, but that when
she attended the Singapore blogging awards as a finalist she was forced to wear a mask
over her face because she was so embarrassed.

'I was at my lowest on day
five'

The pustules showed no sign of
abating on day five

On day six, after lots of
medication, the spots began to dry up

The doctor told Juli she should
expect to have discolouration of the skin for several months

Juli ends
her post saying: 'I realize I have instilled panic and fear in many people regarding
the effects of a facial.

'Many have
asked me to advise on whether this salon is safe to go, whether the one I went to is
the one they are going to, what to look out for in a facial, etc.

'I have been going for
facials for the past ten years and as a beauty blogger tried a myriad of products
on my skin, and NOTHING like that has ever happened'

'I wrote
about my personal experience to share the risks involved in getting a facial. I do not
know and cannot guarantee what will happen to anybody else.

'You may
or may not be allergic to the products the salon uses, the treatment may or may not be
right for you, your beauticians may or may not know what to do when they see you with
uncommon pus on your face, facials may or may not work for you at
all.

'I cannot
speak for anyone and am not qualified to say whether or not a facial or a trip to a
dermatologist is right for you.

'I have
been going for facials for the past ten years and as a beauty blogger tried a myriad of
products on my skin, and NOTHING like that has ever happened.'

Viewers' COMMENTS

My gosh, I feel so sorry for this girl. I have eczema and a few years ago had a reaction to a foundation that contained peanut oil, it ultimately left me with an allergy to vitamin E. It took me months to work it out and get my skin back to normal so I understand how low she felt. Eczema on most other parts of the body can be covered up but not the face!! Unfortunately skin changes and can react to anything out of the blue.

I am with Zoe on this one .What sort of facial did she have? Peel, microdermabrasion, did they use hot flannels, skin lightening products ? Has the therapist small children who came in contact with impetigo at nursery? Does the therapist show any signs of infection of any sort? Are there any other clients affected? Without more information it is hard to say what exactly caused it. Although the salon should have NEVER offered to "pop" them, instead should have send her immediately to a dermatologist and should thoroughly review their hygiene standards just in case it was caused by their sanitation/hygiene practice.

Poor girl! That looks so painful. Good on her for not shaming the salon when it could have just been a product reaction. They need to do an enquiry into it though to prevent it happening again. Hope this girl recovers, can't imagine how this could affect someone's self esteem.

Your dermatologist should have taken a swabbing to determine what it really was before giving you medication to put on it. At first, I thought it might be scabies, but it doesn't spread that quickly. So it's very possible that it was Bullous Impetigo. If so, the staff who came into contact with you need to be nasal swabbed to see if they're carriers. You're lucky to be alive if it were Bullous Impetigo because it has a 60% death rate in adults! Please go back to the doctor and make them swab you to make sure you're not a carrier now, and so that you can be properly treated. And if you are, or it was that, please contact the local health department because that clinic needs to be closed until they can determine the cause of your infection. Best wishes!

Slays me when people get into trouble primarily through their own vanity, then run to the papers to complain when things go wrong. Who blogs about facials, for heaven's sake? - Teresa, Cape Town ------- Actually beauty blogging is a very popular and lucrative thing. My friend has one on YouTube and has over 20,000 followers.

The spa should offer to pay for all the Dr visits and meds she had to have in order to treat their mistake. Even if it was an accident she shouldnt have to pay for it. Its the least they could do for her not sueing. Most ppl who need their looks for their job would have sued in a flash. If they didnt pay for the treatments she needed i hope she does sue, she doeant seem money hungry but srsly she shouldnt be put out anymore than she already was. I hope it clears without scarring.

Poor girl, I really feel for her. I had a sudden bout of spots last year at age 20 after years of no acne problems and it shook my confidence in a massive way - and they've still left discolouration even after months. The psychological trauma that acne and other related conditions bring should not be underrated.

It looks like impetigo which will clear up with prescription cream. I have always warned my daughters about putting chemicals on your skin. I have sensitive skin and I have always been careful since suffering a similar reaction years ago. Patch test all products before putting them on your face or scalp